Our Christmas Day

Our Christmas Day started VERY early (630am) after going to bed just a few hours before (no exaggerating)  ahhh but isn't that what it is all about it?

So on with the pictures...the many pictures...

Starting the morning off by checking out what Santa left in the stockings. 
Jack got a wrestling man:

Madeline with her stocking:

On Christmas Eve, Jack lost a tooth.  He was so excited to get visited by Santa and the Tooth Fairy!  Talk about lucky huh?  Well....in all his mischievousness, Dan the Elf took Jack's tooth fairy money and left Jack a note telling Jack to come find him.  hehe  Jack found Dan in the stockings with the his money.

Madeline's presents a bike and gifts wrapped in Dora paper per her request ;)

Jack's presents: a baksetball goal and his presents wrapped in transformers paper:

Santa left the kids a gift they could both enjoy...a trampoline!  We have all really enjoyed this toy! 

Jack got a wrestling ring:

Madeline got a tea cart:

Me and my little christmas sweeties:

J and his 2 favorite people:

Daddy got a new part for his bike:

And an apple tv:

Mommy got a new camera!  YAY!!!  I am so excited to try out this new baby!  To be honest, I am a little overwhelmed by all the "stuff" on it, lol.  I am going to take a photography class though so I can be better accustomed to it. 

I also got some hot new boots!  My hubby did such a GREAT job picking these out all on his own!

My precious mom made Madi and I matching scarfs! 

Mom also gave our family the xbox!  We have had SOOOOO much fun with this game!

I made a big ol breakfast complete with french toast casserole, grits and sausage casserole, doughnut holes, fruit with dip, pigs in a blanket, brownies made to look like Santa hats (thank you pinterest) and sausage links.  It was a lot of food but o so good.  Can we say diet went out the window???

I set up the dining room table for us.  My mom, my brother, and our friend Justin all joined us.  My in-laws came after church for snacks (we had lots of snacks too)

Jason got both of the kids a special gift from him.

J got Jack a bb gun...who can guess how many times I have heard "you'll shoot your eye out kid!" ...way too many times

J teaching Jack about the gun:

J got Madi a doll that she can play with her hair and put make up on...does she not look fantastic???

In the evening we ventured over to my in-laws for dinner.  We had a wonderful dinner of steaks and all the fixings.  It was perfect and the kids were still in their pj's...does not get much better than that huh?

Jack was so tired he did not even realize we were opening presents:

Madeline helped Granna pass out gifts: (mommy and daddy got a great new video camera! yay!)

and Pops...well Pops was having a little fun with the dress up hair that Uncle Zach gave Madeline.  (= lol
hope you don't mind me sharing this Pops.

We had a truly wonderful Christmas...I felt so blessed having my whole family together.  The huge void I felt last year, I did not feel this year.  It was perfect in every way. 

Our Christmas - Visiting Family

We have had a really busy but really great Christmas!  I don't even know where to begin to describe how thankful I am this year to have my husband and my brother home.  I felt so complete this year...much, much different than last year. 

We were able to travel to visit my grandmothers and spend time with our family in TN.  I am so glad we were able to go and enjoy a wonderful Christmas with all of them. 
I wanted to share some pictures of our Christmas visiting family.


First up we had Christmas with my Mamaw Carmela.  My uncle and his wife hosted at their house.  We always have so much fun there and eat way too much! (yea..I have blown the diet big time!)
Here is Jack...can you tell how excited he was to open presents? ;)

Madeline waiting patiently to open her presents:

Jack was so excited to get the nerf set!  He and cousin Michael had A LOT of fun with this!

Madeline loves American Girl Dolls.  She got another Marie Grace and the party dress she has been asking for!  She has not let these dolls out of her sight. 

This is my Mamaw Carmela.  Jason brought our grandmothers back a beautiful silk scarf each from Afghanistan.  They were special treats!

Next stop was Christmas at Mamaw Beth's house.  This was our 2nd Christmas since my grand-daddy passed.  He was missed a lot...a few tears were shed, but we are all so grateful to know he is no longer suffering and we will be with him one day and be able to worship our King together on His birthday.

Here is a picture of the grandkids.  Technically I am a grandchild and should be in this picture...don't you think I would look a little out a place as a 30 something year old in this picture??? ha!

Madeline was excited to open some more presents.  She got some more great things!

Jack was ready to see what he got too.

My little sweeties:

Jack and Mamaw Beth:

Jason and Mamaw Beth.  She loved her scarf. 

I love my Mamaw Beth!  She is a precious woman and who has influenced my life so much. 

Next stop was Christmas with my dad and his family.

The kids got to help make breakfast.  Pancakes and waffles, yum!

My brothers Kevin, Chase, and the kiddos:

Jack checking out his gifts:

Madeline excited for a new cinderella carriage:

My dad and me:

The kids with granddaddy:

My brother Kevin, me, and my brother Chase:

J, Jack, and me....wasn't it so sweet of J to get dressed up for the occasion???  sheesshhh...I am just glad he came out of the woods for a little while, lol ;)

That was all the stops we made before Christmas.  Next post I will share Christmas day - complete with Santa, my mom and my in-laws. 

Oh and I know it is a little late, but here is our Christmas card that we sent out this year:

I do hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

No More Setback - An Update

Yesterday we had our follow up appointment for Jack with the eye dr.  You may remember a few months ago Jack had an eye appt. and we were told of a minor setback with his vision/amblyopia - you can read the post HERE.  Over the last 3 months, we have been patching Jack's eye again daily for 2 hours in the hopes of strengthening Jack's eye muscle in his "lazy" eye and restoring the vision in that eye as well.  I have noticed that Jack's eye had been improving and so I was excited to get to the doctor and see just how much improvement would be made. 

I am happy to report that the eye patching has been successful!!!  YAY!!!  Jack's vision was better yesterday than it has ever been!  EVER!!  Not only was God faithful to restore the vision, He improved it!!! Improved it!!  Oh how can we not praise Him for this!?!   Even the doctor was sharing in our excitement.  He gave Jack like 4 high-5's!  He said it was the best news he had all day.  :)  The doctor asked Jack if he had been playing video games and told Jack that he could tell it was working.  ;)

So game plan now is cut down patching from 2 hours per day to just 1 hour for the next 2 months.  Then go for 2 months with no patching after which we will return to doctor to see how vision is doing.  Our hope (and prayer) is that the vision will continue to improve or stay the same.  We do not want to loose any.  So, we will be praying for continued healing of Jack's eye and no more setbacks.  Goodness, I am so excited for this great news and so thankful that God is so good to not only restore Jack's vision, but to improve it! 

After our appointment, we took the kids to the zoo to see the Christmas lights.  It was pretty and they had a lot of fun.  Their favorite part was the train ride.  We are really enjoying this Christmas season.  Below are some pictures of our trip to the zoo: (I had to use my iphone because of course the batteries were dead in the camera)